Preview: SA vs Eng, 4th ODI

Ground Reality: Typical of most South African grounds, St George's Park at Port Elizabeth has a mix of open seating on grass embankments and the more traditional covered seats. This was the ground at which South Africa played its first ever Test match. The last few matches here have seen a good contest between bat and ball, with a slight advantage to the batsmen. If the pitch stays true, then it could provide a mouth-watering clash between two good sides. The weather forecast is for partly cloudy skies.

Team News:

South Africa: They stormed back in style into the ODI series, after seeming down and out when they were trailing by 0-1. The win also arrested an embarrassing sequence of defeats to England for the Proteas, and that too would have given them satisfaction. South Africa benefited from the changes they made to their squad bringing in Morne Morkel for brother Albie, and Wayne Parnell for Charl Langeveldt, as Parnell and Morne Morkel took eight wickets between them in England's innings. As captain Graeme Smith said, they played intelligent cricket in the last match, getting 90% of their plans right. This is the kind of cricket they have played for the past year and a half, and that is what has catapulted them to the top - or near the top - of the rankings tables too. In the past too they were always ranked amongst the top teams, but in the past, the gap between them and Australia was too large to ever seriously consider them as genuine contenders for the top spot. Linked with South Africa's rise has been the rise of AB de Villiers. de Villiers has been scoring runs by the bucketful for a consistent period now, and as he showed in the previous match, his runs come at a clip that leaves the opposition dazed. Their bowling attack has top-notch pace, and van der Merwe provides the spin option. And they are led by the hard-nosed, ready for battle Graeme Smith, who will do all he can to ensure that England don't have any chance of victory.

England: Just like South Africa, they are also led by a strong leader in Andrew Strauss. Although not quite as blunt or aggressive as Smith may be, Strauss is very much his own man who has earned the respect of not only his team-mates but also his opponents. Given his unflappable temperament, Strauss will not be unduly worried about the thrashing his side received in the previous ODI, knowing that the game can change dramatically from one day to the next. As England showed in the first ODI, they are more than capable of holding their own against South Africa. The big plus point for England is the return of some of its regulars - Pietersen, Broad and Swann. Though they didn't make much of a difference in the last ODI, as they find their groove they will get more dangerous. Pietersen, especially, must be waiting to explode and if he gets into the zone, there isn't much any opposition attack can do. England's stand-out performer though, has been Paul Collingwood. Collingwood must surely be the greatest ODI player England has produced - at least so far. In a format that their Board ignored for many years - or at best gave a condescending acknowledgment too, Collingwood is one player who has picked up the nuances of the ODI game faster than his peers. His form will be crucial to England's chances, as they try to wrest back the initiative from South Africa and regain the lead in the series.

Trivia:

AB de Villiers has scored his runs at an average of 56.92 and a strike rate of 94.26 in ODIs in 2009. In real terms it means that nearly everytime de Villiers has gone out to bat in an ODI he has returned a score of 57 off 61 balls.

Soundbytes:

"I don't want to admonish the players too much today. You've got to give credit where it's due and South Africa took the game to us and made life difficult for us. We can bounce back strongly on Sunday." - Andrew Strauss

"Morne bowled superbly in the area we wanted him to. Both he and Parnell gave England something to think about which is encouraging for Sunday." - Graeme Smith